Desert Motels in the Southwest

Eve's Garden Bed and Breakfast

Marathon, TX

Hand-built papercrete rooms around an indoor garden atrium with a solar-heated pool and a rooftop stargazing deck. A construction method you will not find anywhere else.

The Gage Hotel

Marathon, TX

A West Texas landmark since 1927, where the right way to book is Los Portales: adobe rooms with private porches, kiva fireplaces, and antique Mexican doors around an open-air courtyard. The gateway to Big Bend has seen a lot since then, and this is what still stands.

Adobe Desert Boutique Motel

Panguitch, UT

Hoodoo-inspired suite names, a desert palette, and warm wood throughout a 1950s frame restored to feel like somewhere specific. The arrival feels expected before the door opens.

Best Bet Motor Lodge

Reno, NV

Renovated into a Midtown boutique with a lobby bar and individual room entrances, its 1958 frame still visible in the bones. The Reno Sauna Club on the property has two cedar saunas, one inside a converted 1950s teardrop trailer.

Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile

Kanab, UT

Every room is built around the animal traveling with you: a pull-out bed tucked into the base of the frame, a double-door airlock so nothing slips out, furniture raised so nobody gets stuck underneath. You can even bring a shelter animal down from the sanctuary up the canyon for a sleepover, then hand it back in the morning a little more ready for a home.

Blue Swallow Motel

Tucumcari, NM

Pink stucco, original neon, and the 1939 bones intact on one of America's most storied roads. The neon goes on at dusk and everything that made the drive worth it is still here.

Canyons Lodge

Kanab, UT

A western log-cabin lodge under the red cliffs on Highway 89, where evenings bring live music on the deck and a fire pit under the stars, and mornings bring muffins still warm from the oven and parfaits made that day. Cruiser bikes wait by the office for the flat ride into town.

Jonquil Motel

Bisbee, AZ

Bisbee's oldest surviving courtyard property, built in 1937 around a lush garden with a mural, a neon sign, and a color-changing phone booth. No stairs and walking distance to everything Old Bisbee has.

Motel Safari

Tucumcari, NM

A 1959 Googie design with a butterfly roof, original 1950s custom-built furniture, and radios streaming Route 66 Radio at the bedside. The Rockabilly Suite's first guest was Wanda Jackson.

Prickly Pear Inn

Cave Creek, AZ

Individually named rooms above a hacienda courtyard with Western character rooted in the town's actual bones and mountain views from every deck. Check-in and gift shopping happen in the same mercantile lobby.

Quail Park Lodge

Kanab, UT

A 1963 frame renovated into mid-century rooms with a crayon-colored palette and weekly happy hours hosted by the owner. A gateway to five national parks run by someone who genuinely likes guests.

Roadrunner Lodge Motel

Tucumcari, NM

Restored to working mid-century character with period decor and an in-house radio station playing 1950s and 60s hits. One of the last operating Magic Fingers vibrating beds in America is here.

Santa Fe Motel & Inn

Santa Fe, NM

A tucked-away adobe cluster a few blocks off the Plaza, where kiva fireplaces crackle in the casitas and a made-fresh breakfast starts every morning. The little touches, a yoga mat in the closet and an umbrella by the door, make it feel like someone actually thought about your day.

Stargazer Inn

Baker, NV

The closest bed to Great Basin National Park, in a Nevada town so small and so dark the Milky Way casts a shadow. Seven owner-run rooms wrapped around a general store and a seasonal cafe.

The Monterey Motel

Albuquerque, NM

A 1946 Route 66 motor court two blocks from Old Town, restored into a chic desert stay where you check in at a craft-cocktail lounge instead of a front desk. A heated pool in the courtyard and a welcome drink in hand make arrival feel like the start of something, not the end of a drive.

The Mystic Santa Fe

Santa Fe, NM

The old Silver Saddle motor court on the Route 66 stretch of Cerrillos, reborn in pastels and global folk art with a cafe and bar out front. A made-to-order breakfast on real plates and a room that feels individually dreamed up make it a hangout, not just a place to sleep.

The Wesley

Page, AZ

Page's oldest road lodge, reworked with a calm modern desert hand into the town's first boutique stay, rooms opening to exterior walkways around a courtyard pool. Named for the one armed explorer who first ran these canyons, it puts Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Lake Powell minutes from your door.

Earl's Rt 66 Motor Court

Winslow, AZ

Handmade quilts, original neon, and forty-four years of family stewardship on the oldest continuously operating property on this stretch of Route 66. One of the most genuine stops on the whole highway.

El Pueblo Lodge

Taos, NM

An adobe compound where every room opens to a patio or terrace, with Casita Kings featuring kiva wood-burning fireplaces. Afternoon cookies, a pool, and a hot tub included.

Marathon Motel

Marathon, TX

A property-built Skypark with a resident astronomer and some of the darkest skies in Texas. The main event here happens after dark.

Moab Rustic Inn

Moab, UT

Every room has a full-size refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker, which matters when you're splitting time between two national parks with no concessions inside. Heated pool, BBQ, and parking at every door.

Parry Lodge

Kanab, UT

The 1931 lodge that made Kanab Little Hollywood, where the rooms still carry the names of the stars who slept in them and the barn out back still screens the Westerns they came to shoot. Mornings bring a full hot spread and rose gardens on the way to the pool John Wayne helped pay for.

Pinon Court by La Fonda

Santa Fe, NM

A Pueblo Revival lodge with a parking court ringed by rooms, where Kiva fireplaces glow in the corners and private patios catch the morning mountain light. A short walk from the Plaza, with a bistro of its own and access to La Fonda's spa, it makes an easy, deeply Santa Fe base.

Purple Sage Motel

Panguitch, UT

Red rock canyon country visible from every window in a husband-and-wife operation that takes its name from Zane Grey's most celebrated novel. The name does the landscape justice.

Sands Motel of Boulder City

Boulder City, NV

A 1951 family-run motor court in the quiet desert town the Hoover Dam built, redone in a warm mid-century modern style where you still park right at your door. Pull in off the noise of Las Vegas and find tree-lined streets, white lights in the branches, and an easy night's sleep.

Zion Park Motel

Springdale, UT

Covered outdoor sitting areas with canyon wall views and a shuttle stop directly across the street since 1972. A clean vintage property where the canyon is close enough that it sets the agenda.